The present invention relates to a heat shielding or protective cladding for walls, ceilings, and similar surfaces (wall means), especially of industrial furnaces, with the cladding being formed from butted together parallelepipedal bodies (modules) that are secured to the wall means and comprise a plurality of held together and compacted fiber mat webs that are prestressed in a direction parallel to the wall means.
With such a heat shielding cladding, which is comprised of modules, for industrial furnaces or other high temperature apparatus, the modules are pressed together, i.e. are held under prestress, before and during the time that they are mounted on the wall means, by clamping elements such as bands, cardboard boxes, or pieces of wood. After a surface or wall means that is to be insulated or covered has been completely equipped with such modules, the clamping elements are loosened, whereupon the modules swell or expand and the gaps or seams that resulted during assembly between the individual modules are closed. In this connection, the use of fiber mat webs of refractory material such as metal oxide compounds has proven to be satisfactory as insulating material during the construction of the modules because such materials can withstand high temperatures. However, the problem with these heat shielding claddings is that ceramic fibers contract when they are exposed to high temperatures for long periods of time. This leads to the formation of gaps, especially at the seams between those sides of adjacent modules in the heat shielding cladding that are not under prestress. These gaps can extend all the way from the surface of the heat shielding cladding to the wall means that are to be insulated. In order to prevent damage to the wall means due to thermal penetration at the gaps, it is essential to continuously inspect the heat shielding cladding and to eliminate the gaps by filling them with insulating material.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to embody a heat shielding cladding of the aforementioned type that comprises modules of fiber mat webs in such a way that the cladding ensures an excellent insulating effect while preventing the formation of gaps.